Angry Birds 2 Enemy Guide: Explanations and Strategies (Retired)

[Anonymous]

There are many different kinds of pigs in Angry Birds 2, each with their own special ability to make popping them that much more difficult. This guide is here to help with that.

In this guide, I’ll explain just about all of the information and strategy regarding the pigs of AB2 that I’ve learned from playing since the day it came out worldwide. This includes what they do, where they’re located, and how to beat them.
___________________________________________

General Tip

As a quick tip to start you off, remember how pigs will sometimes fall asleep. When this happens, they won’t notice if a bird is approaching them, and won’t activate their ability either.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Passive Pigs

These are pigs that really don’t do anything, but have a small passive ability that helps them in the environment.

These pigs are almost effortlessly easy to defeat. No need to worry about them ruining your chances of beating the level.
___________________________________________

Minion Pig
Difficulty: Very easy
Appearances: Everywhere

The simplest of pigs.

Strategy:
Use birds.

Tip: As seen in the screenshot above, these pigs will sometimes appear stacked, but only in gravity themed levels starting from the Hamazonas (741+). This is actually a separate enemy called the “Pig Tower”, which has more overall balance than other pigs.
___________________________________________

Helmet Pig (Actual name: Armor Pig)
Difficulty: Easy
Appearances: Can appear anywhere.

Prepared for the incoming attacks, this pig can sustain more damage than other pigs.

Strategy:
Use more birds.
___________________________________________

Umbrella Pig
Difficulty: Easy
Appearances: Can appear anywhere.

When caught in the air, this pig will gently float down.

Strategy:
This pig always spawns on top of buildings. Never inside or beside them. Because of this, you want to attack the pig head-on, and avoid destroying or tipping over the building underneath the pig before attacking the pig itself, because the pig would almost always survive.
___________________________________________

Swimmer Pig and Scuba Pig
Difficulty: Medium
Appearances: Levels 441+

Unlike other pigs that pop in water, Scuba Pig can breath underwater, and Swimmer Pig will float.

Strategy:
The only time these pigs are a threat is when they’re in water, which is typically away from the buildings you’re trying to hit. The best approach to take would be to make a tower fall on their head, as the spread of blocks will cover a very wide area, almost guaranteeing a hit.

Also, be careful if those blocks are wood or ice. Stone will sink, but blocks that float may not go deep enough to hit Scuba Pigs that are farther down, which will then create a barrier and make the pig even harder to pop.

If you have to shoot a bird directly in the water to pop the pig, try to aim it in a way that the bird can shoot back up and hit the real target building in the process.

Tip for Swimmer Pig: Despite the pig’s shape, he is still round and will roll just as well as any other pig.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mobility Pigs

Mobility Pigs are pigs that have the ability to change their location.

The difficulty of these pigs mostly depend on how you approach them. If done correctly, it would almost be like they weren’t there at all. If done incorrectly, they could possibly cost you an extra or several unnecessary birds to beat the level.
___________________________________________

Balloon Pig
Difficulty: Easy
Appearances: Can appear anywhere.

This pig will inflate a balloon at a random time, then fly into a high area.

Strategy:
The pig usually takes a long time to inflate the balloon, so you have plenty of time to clear the level anyway. But, if he does end up inflating it, just wait around for a bit. Very often, the balloon will pop on it’s own. Even if it doesn’t, it’s usually really easy to aim your bird so it pops the balloon on the way to the desired building anyway.
___________________________________________

Rocket Pig (Actual name: Jetpack Pig)
Difficulty: Medium
Appearances: Can appear anywhere.

When a bird comes near, this pig flies out of danger, then slowly descends with a parachute.

Strategy:
This pig can only move once, so you can exploit that by firing a bird near the pig while hitting something else entirely. This will set him off, wasting his rocket, without you having to spend an extra bird by doing so.

Tip: The pig’s parachute is breakable. If destroyed, the pig will fall right out of the air.
___________________________________________

Magician Pig (Actual name: Teleporter Pig)
Difficulty: Medium
Appearances: Levels 241+

When this pig is in danger, he teleports to a random location away from activity.

Strategy: Fight him just like you would Rocket Pig. He can teleport more than once, with a cooldown, but as long as you can trick him into wasting his ability and react quick enough, it’ll be easy.

Tip: You can tell if this pig is ready to teleport by seeing if there are stars around his head. No stars means he’s locked in place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Projectile Pigs

Projectile Pigs are a special class of enemies that have the ability to throw, shoot and launch various items at birds when they come within range of the pig. What they throw, and what happens to your bird when hit depends on the type of pig you’re dealing with.

Due to how hard it can be to dodge screwdrivers, and other strange objects flying towards your beak, these are arguably the most difficult pigs to defeat. But, like any pig, you just need a good strategy.

Since all of these pigs have the same type of attack, the strategy at the end of the section will work well against all of them.
___________________________________________

Frosty Pig (Actual name: Snowball Pig)
Difficulty: Medium
Appearances: Common in boss levels, very common in snow themed levels, uncommon in all others.

This pig shoots snowballs every so often. If a bird gets hit by one, it loses all of its momentum and will just fall.

Tip: Instead of attacking as soon as a bird comes near him, this pig fires a snowball every second. The snowballs also move much slower than projectiles from the other pigs. Because of this, you can easily defeat this pig by carefully timing your birds.

Tip: Its not a big deal, but keep in mind that the snowballs don’t have an exact route. Sometimes the pig shoots them lower or higher, but the difference is minimal.
___________________________________________

Construction Pig (Actual name: Stone Thrower Pig)
Difficulty: Hard
Appearances: Commonly in intermediate levels.

This pig throws screwdrivers at your birds, which will knock them away if hit by one.

Tip: Terence is completely immune to this pig’s attack. Screwdrivers bounce right off of him.
___________________________________________

Miner Pig (Actual name: Polymorph Pig)
Difficulty: Hard
Appearances: Commonly in intermediate levels.

This pig fires purple dust clouds at your birds, turning it into one of the objects below if hit by one.

Tip: These are all of the objects the pig can turn your birds into:

Teddy bear, which does nothing.
Rubber duck that can push structures.
Round boulder.
Balloon.
Rocket, which soon explodes.
Golden Pig.
TNT box.
Medium size Minion Pig.
Tiny stone square.
Nothing.
___________________________________________

Blowtorch Pig (Actual name: Fire Thrower Pig)
Difficulty: Very Hard
Appearances: Levels 43 and 55.

This pig shoots fireballs at your birds, which, when hit, will make them instantly disappear.

Tip: This pig is extremely accurate and the fireballs move faster than all the other projectiles. Easily the strongest pig in the game. Luckily, the levels he appears in are boss levels, so you can try to avoid him and focus on the boss only.
___________________________________________

Strategy:
Unlike the other pigs who can’t fight back against the birds, these pigs can. Because of this, you have to focus more on using your birds abilities to skillfully avoid the projectile, rather than attacking the pig itself. So, the strategies below will be specific for each bird.

Chuck, Matilda and Silver: Chuck’s speed boost, Matilda’s egg and Silver’s spin dive all allow these birds to change their movement, which is exactly what you want. With proper skill and timing, you can use this to dodge the incoming projectile.

Hal: Although this bird can also change direction like the ones above, you would have to launch him directly over the pig before you can, leaving Hal wide open to an attack. Most likely, the bird won’t even make it in time.

Red, Bomb, Bubbles and Stella: These birds require you to get very close to the target and activate their ability right before the pig attacks. Not a problem if you have really good timing, but it’s risky. A good 2nd choice.

Blues: This bird allows you get very close to the pig, and then split so that the projectile only hits one while the other two hit the building. Usually effective, but really depends on how easily you can knock down the tower supporting the pig.

Terence: Not a good idea to use him. Terence has no ability, and therefore no protection against the pig’s attack.

Leonard: He’s the only bird (Um, pig) who can attack before getting within the pig’s firing range. Extremely useful, but probably the hardest tactic to execute effectively. Your choice on whether you want to attempt it.

Tip: Remember that these pigs have a cooldown. After attacking, they won’t be able to fire again for a few seconds.

Tip: Notice how all 4 of the pigs above are holding an item? Those aren’t just for decoration. If the pig somehow takes damage without popping, the item will be destroyed, rendering the pig unable to attack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beneficial Pigs

These are pigs that you want to spawn in a level. Popping them will greatly reward you.

There’s no difficulty or strategies here, since these pigs are helpful.
___________________________________________

Golden Pig
Appearances: Rare in all levels

When popped, this pig will instantly fill the Destruct-O-Bar, immediately giving you an extra bird.

Tip: Remember that popping the pig will start you off with an empty bar regardless of how full it was before. This is often very hard to do, but if it’s almost full, try to fill it up before popping the pig. Then you can instantly fill it up again.
___________________________________________

Chemist Pig (Actual name: Shuffle Pig)
Appearances: Levels 321+

When popped, this pig turns all blocks into the same element (Glass, wood or stone).

Tip: Okay, sometimes this pig can do more harm than good. Just decide whether or not you think popping the pig would cause an overall improvement​ to the current buildings. Having only stone can definitely be a bad thing.
___________________________________________

Angry Pig (Actual name: Exploder Pig)
Appearances: Levels 401+

When popped, the pig explodes, damaging structures around it, just like a TNT Box.
___________________________________________

Astronaut Pig (Actual name: Gravity Pig)
Appearances: Levels 581+

When popped, nearby pigs and blocks will be levitated into the air, and then dropped.
___________________________________________

Atom Pig (Actual name: Beamer Pig)
Appearances: Levels 781+

Birds within reach will be drawn towards the pig at high speed.

Tip: The reason why this pig is considered helpful is because the bird often gets pulled in so fast that they shoot right through and bring the whole building down. Birds like Terence and Red are perfect for this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boss Pigs

Well, you’ve learned how to defeat the Passive Pigs, Mobility Pigs, Projectile Pigs, and the Beneficial​ Pigs. Now it’s time for the biggest, baddest pigs of them all: The Bosses!

These pigs are much bigger than the other pigs, and have a ridiculous amount of health.
___________________________________________

Chef Pig, Foreman Pig and King Pig
Appearances: All crown shaped levels.

Strategy:
Alike the Projectile Pigs, defeating bosses are all about playing to your bird’s strengths. Some birds can do things that others can’t. Because of this, the strategies will once again be split up for each bird individually:

Red, Blues, Chuck: These birds are all generally ineffective against bosses. Hitting them head-on does only minor damage and hardly moves them. Better to just use these birds for dropping blocks and buildings.

Hal: Same as above. He’s equally ineffective, but using Hal does at least give you the option to attack from behind. Depending on the situation, that could come in handy.

Bubbles: Also just as ineffective. Low damage, and his expanding ability seems to move Bubbles around more than he can move the boss.

Bomb, Terence and Stella: These are the birds you’ll want to use. Terence does massive damage when hitting the boss directly, and can push him very far. Bomb just as well when he explodes. Stella can’t do a whole lot of damage, but encasing the boss in a bubble can lift him over a very long distance.

Matilda and Silver: These birds are highly versatile because they give you two choices for attack. You can either fire slightly below the boss and activate their ability right next him, causing the bird to shoot up and knock the boss upwards as well, or you can use their ability directly above the boss to drop an egg/spin dive right on his head, causing tremendous damage.

Leonard: Easily the weakest choice against a boss. His natural bounciness won’t help for moving the boss, and his snot rockets do no damage at all. Only useful for destroying platforms.

Tip: When you defeat a boss, all remaining pigs are popped.

Tip: Remember that bosses are not round. They are more of a triangle shape and do not roll well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welp, that’s the end my guide. Hopefully, this helped you gain a better understanding of the enemies in Angry Birds 2.

Well? What are you waiting for? Go pop some pigs!
___________________________________________

Credits:

Monsterpighunter (corporalpig)
For working alongside me to get Fireman Pig’s section up and running, as well as providing the majority of the items that Miner Pig can morph your birds into.

Rizdub
For digging deep into the game files to discover the real names of all the pigs.

RedYoshi45 (smwforever45) and KingPiggy087
For providing general information on just about everything you can think of.

PowerPork (abginebird)
For providing several screenshots that are being used in the guide at this very moment.

Topic

[SweetP]

@partshade, you forgot about the construction pigs with the yellow hard hat, holding what looks like a screwdriver. After you fling your bird at the structure, it will shoot screws at the bird, knocking it down!

Also, there’s a wizard pig that will shoot white fire balls. These will also knock your bird down if you get hit.

[Anonymous]

@sweetp Don’t worry I didn’t forget :). I just didn’t have enough time to make the whole guide yet. That’s why the guide says Under PIGstruction :D. But there is something you could help me with if you want. Could you tell me how to post a picture on here? I know to post in my album but I can’t get it on the forum.

[Power Pork]

@partshade
don’t forget the Guardian pig.(the pig who will turn your bird into blocks or items)
Also, there is a firefighter pig that shoots fire and burn your bird(seen in one of the foreman pig boss battle)

[burbman]

@partshade to get a picture into your post, go to it in your album and underneath there are a series of links. For this you probably want embed thumbnail, copy the info to the right of that heading in its entirety, then come back to your post, choose edit, and paste where you want it to appear.

[burbman]

Also, Balloon Pig will usually float up and down at random, and quite often will run into a structure or a rock and pop himself. If he inflates, give him a minute to see how smart he is.

[Anonymous]

@burbman Thanks so much! I did it!

Also nice tip about the Balloon Pig. I’ll add that.

[Anonymous]

Oh weird my thread came back. Guess I can start updating it again.

[firedragon]

And the new “teleport” pig after 240.

[FreckledPig147]

This is a great post! I think the bosses should be included as well, even though they’re not very difficult to beat besides their persistent resistance to bird attacks.

Kind of obvious, but you can also pop pigs of any type by letting them fall into a pit from any cause.

[epicMarksmen]

@mingkee27 Teleport Pig?

[firedragon]

@kenhsieh
It appears only after level 241.
The pig looks like a magician, and it teleports when a bird gets nears it, but it will get stunned for few seconds and it’s your chance to beat it.

[Mp127]

Great guide @partshade, some pigs are really annoying and that’s good to see strategies to beat them.
Miner Pigs are very interesting as they can change birds into everything (toys, boulders, rockets, even Golden Pigs). Sometimes that can be useful, for example when you have only The Blues left.

[Fleshyskeleton]

The piggy island would be a better place without those darn pigs,the umbrella one in particular(averaging 3 birds w/each),it’s not even scientific:how can anyone survive freefall with just an umbrella,when mine shatter under winds of a mere Beaufort Scale of 4?

[FreckledPig147]

@fleshyskeleton Unfortunately, no game is 100% scientifically accurate. You’ll just have to deal with it… :P

[Anonymous]

@fleshyskeleton @freckledpig147 Yeah I mean a pig that turns your birds into a teddy bear? What sense does that make :D?

[Narc]

Does anyone notice how durable the tiny normal pigs are? I’ve thrown bomb into structures that had multiple types of pig, obliterating the structure. After everything comes crashing down, the tiny pig survives unscathed and sometimes manages to get into a small crevice where you can’t hit it and you lose the level.
Don’t even get me started on the magician pig. That one just forces you to waste turns so you can’t complete a level and then have to watch a stupid advertisement, pay gems or $$ (which I will never do).

[dmsral]

Yes @narc, they occasionally become super tough. I’ve even has a bird roll over one without popping it.

Best strategy for the magician pig is to avoid shooting near it. Try to get something to fall on it or hit it with flying debris.

[Orange Bubbles]

This is a really cool guide. Thank you very much @partshade for the great work! ;)

[Anonymous]

Thanks @orangebubbles! The guide took a long time to make so I’m glad it’s making a difference! :D

[Ang Ryone]

You forgot about the boss Pig.

[monsterpighunter]

I have a screenshot of the fireman pig sorry that it’s so small

also the golden pig doesn’t neccesarily need to be popped to pass the level

[Anonymous]

@corporalpig Thanks for that! I’ll be updating the guide soon and will be sure to add the picture.

By the way, do you remember what level you saw the pig in?

[monsterpighunter]

@partshade level 50

[monsterpighunter]

miner pig can turn birds into the following objects:

-a teddy bear which is harmless
-a rubber duck which is also harmless
-a round stone
-a balloon which pops quickly
-a rocket
-a golden pig

there are probably a lot more possible things

[AndalayBay]

The miner pig can also turn your bird into a large boulder, which can cause a lot of destruction.

The main way I’ve found to defeat these guys is to fire under them or far above them (at something else) and hope that debris takes them out. Another option is to fire the blue bird at them and split early – they will hit one bird of the trio, but one of the others may nail them or strike the tower.